Toshiba 39L2300U Review (39L2300)

39 inch LED Backlit LED TV

This 39 inch offering from Toshiba is part of the first series not to offer the new Cloud TV functionality. The 39L2300U is targeted at the TV shopper looking for a value set. It lacks just about all of the features of every mid and top level TV so you know it will do the trick in that department. It's different from the L4300 above in one big way. The Cloud TV platform is gone. It keeps the same Gun Metal design that Toshiba has really pushed this year. The L2300U series is available as early as March 2013.

Picture Quality

LED backlighting used in the 39L2300U does a lot to improve the overall picture quality on this value model. First, you'll see that the brightness is better than most. Peak whites are not as bright on some of the top tier models out there, but for a low end model the performance is good. Color is also a strong point on the television. Color performance was very solid. One thing I noticed about this TV was the very realistic but saturated color representation. Toshiba provides a number of preset picture modes that do a lot in terms of adjusting the color. Flip through these and see what the TV has to offer. LED backlighting can introduce some screen uniformity issues due to uneven lighting, but these can be controlled with a simple adjustment in the picture settings menu.

Appearance

The 39L2300U looks identical to the L4300U above it with slight variations in the color. It sill gets the look Toshiba calls the Gun Metallic Satin Deco. This separates it from the standard black coloration on the L1350 below it. The thin black glossy bezel is seen on the sides and the top only. A wider metal strip runs along below the screen. At first glance this created an off-balanced look, but it grew on me after a few moments.

Value and Price

The 39L2300U has a good deal of competition to address. Many LCD/LED TVs of this size include a much heavier feature set and more picture quality options. The L2300U is about as basic as it gets aside from the 39 inch L1350U below it. Competition will mainly come from Samsung's UN40F5000, Panasonic's TC-L39B6, and Sony's KDL-39R450A. The Sony and Samsung end up with stronger picture quality ratings.

Having reviewed and written about Television Technology for over 10 years, Wiley never tires of researching the newest qualitative trends related to the technology. Most people do not get excited about possibilities behind the latest video engine...Wiley does. Read more about Robert